Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze review – monkey business

The first big Wii U release of the year is a new game from the makers of Metroid Prime, but is another 2D platformer really a good idea?

If there’s one thing the Wii U needs at the moment it’s probably not another platform game. When Tropical Freeze was first announced there were howls of protest, not just because the game seemed an unhelpful indulgence but because it tied up Nintendo’s only Western developer – Metroid Prime creator Retro Studios – on a game that seemingly any number of their Japanese studios could’ve made instead.

It’s rather like the chief engineer on the Titanic suddenly deciding he doesn’t want to work on fixing the engines, but would rather show off his skills as an amateur violinist by popping on deck to join the band.

Since Retro already made Donkey Kong Country Returns for the original Wii it’s obvious they are indeed highly skilled at creating 2D platformers, but we still struggle to understand why they thought this game would be a good use of their talents and resources during Nintendo’s darkest hour.

Donkey Kong is not a complicated character and his games are equally easy to understand. Originally created by Rare as a riposte to Super Mario World, the size and weight of the titular gorilla means he handles very differently to Mario and co. As a result the levels are designed for slower and more precise movement, and with a difficultly level that will test even the most practised of gamers.

On his own Donkey Kong has only two life hearts, and so can only survive one hit before he’s thrown out of the level. However, by picking up and throwing a barrel containing one of his relatives he can get them to ride on his back and essentially double his number of hearts. (Or the other character can be controlled by another player in co-op mode.)

His piggybackers also impart one of three special abilities, although special is probably going a bit far. Mildly helpful is a better description, especially as there’s so little practical difference between Diddy Kong’s jetpack and Dixie Kong’s helicopter harido. Both moves are hangovers from the earlier SNES games but Cranky Kong is a new partner for the series. Although his gimmick is also disappointing, as bouncing up and down on his cane is so obviously ripped-off from DuckTales.

Even the special team-up ability is bizarrely lacklustre. It takes ages to build up and then all it does is act like a smart bomb as the two Kongs high five themselves in undeserved excitement.

These abilities speak to the central problem of Tropical Freeze: it’s all very well made but there’s not an original bone in its body – and its obsession with recreating the past only exacerbates the situation. Neither of Retro’s Donkey Kong games dare to move beyond the usual outdoor settings (here it’s jungle, followed by a Nordic forest, followed by an African savannah, followed by some tropical islands, etc.) and none of them have any substantial new features.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U) – the game can impress when it pushes itself

The game is filled with secrets and extras but even most of these turn out to be simple one room mini-games, that soon become so predictable it severely lessens the desire to search for them. This in turn makes unlocking the bonus stages even more difficult, although they only reward you with what are essentially the platforming equivalent of Dark Souls.

And yet there are some undoubted highlights, with the series’ signature mine cart levels being consistently entertaining as you race through saw mills and giant sharks eat away away at the rails. As the background collapses around you there’s a precise timing to every jump that recalls the music levels of Rayman Legends, only without the backing track.

One of the savannah stages takes place during a bush fire, where even the vines you swing on are aflame and have to be put out with water-bearing fruit. Meanwhile, most of the tropical island levels are underwater, which leads to you being chased through a whole stage by a giant octopus.

All but one of the boss battles are enjoyable, but if anything they’re the most retro element of the whole game in their requirement for nothing but rote learning.

These set pieces are the exception to the rule though and far too much of the game is just competent but unmemorable platforming, with little variation or any attempt to surprise. Even the animal mounts that have always been a part of the series are used infrequently and to little real effect.

There just seems no desire to push beyond what the series has already been established as. If not for the higher resolution and more mobile camera this could’ve easily been mistake for a game from 10 years ago. Especially as by far the most impressive aspect of the presentation is the music by original series composer David Wise – yet another retro indulgence.

In fact as a tent-pole Wii U release this is something of a disaster given the tediously long loading times. There’s no attempt to work around them either, with the game throwing you out to the main map when you lose all your lives, which requires two loading pauses of around 15 seconds each. If you want to do something as outrageous as visit the shop – which can provide you with an extra heart and other single-use items – that requires slowly moving around the map (and often onto a different island) and again two loading pauses either side.

Most damningly the game makes absolutely zero use of the GamePad. If you’re not using it to play when the TV is off then its screen remains completely blank, as apparently does Nintendo’s imagination when it comes to proving why the GamePad was ever necessary in the first place.

Tropical Freeze is a good game, and aficionados of the genre will love it, but it does absolutely nothing to move forward either the Donkey Kong franchise, 2D platformers in general, or the case for buying a Wii U.

In Short: A highly competent 2D platformer, but one utterly devoid of any new ideas or any reason to buy a Wii U in order to play it.

Pros: Extremely well-designed levels and some masterfully orchestrated mine cart stages. Good use of a 3D camera to enhance 2D gameplay. Great music.

Cons: Painfully predictable from the very first moment. Visually unremarkable and with some very dull secrets and special abilities. Terrible load times and no use for the GamePad.